I have my PC's playing a one shot to get into the swing of things before I move onto the Carrion Crown AP. The issue I am running into is that they will be level 2 by the end of the one shot and CC wants them to start at 1. Should I not allow them to reach lvl 2 or let them reach lvl to and make everything harder? I try to follow the book to the letter to set up the best adventure so I am not sure what to do here.
For CC, do I need to use the additional creatures it offers or can I ignore them completely? Same with the additional haunts that are not pre-determined by the encounters in the book.
I have 5 PCs, is that too many for CC?
I just finished running Carrion Crown. It's awesome.
1. I'd stick with leaving them at level 1. The initial encounters are well-suited to 1st level characters, and if they start off at 2nd, they might get the wrong idea about the horrors they're about to face :)
Also, I got rid of XP and just leveled them when the AP suggested they be leveled. That worked well for us--it meant that there was no risk they would be over/under leveled for a given point in the campaign.
2. I ignored them completely. There was PLENTY of mayhem to go around. If you find yourself needing more, they're a good option, but I didn't find them necessary. I also didn't really do any random encounters when traveling. That's just a personal style preference--I like to keep things simple.
3. 5 is fine. I ran it with 5 and it was still very challenging for the PCs.
One last piece of unsolicited advice: In every campaign I've run for years, I've been able to work around it if the party did not have a cleric. Carrion Crown--without spoilers, I'd just say I STRONGLY recommend that at least one of your players bring a cleric to the table.
Have a great time, it's a fantastic AP.
1.) I personally would let them level, but then go by the story leveling points from there. That way you're not gypping them out of a level they earned, but they're also not out leveling the content.
2.) They are not necessary, but can be very fun.
3.) Yeah, 5 is fine.